Crabtree or Raji?

BJ Raji currently holds a five vote edge over Michael Crabtree in the ongoing poll. Since they are now the clear front-runners I will now compare the two.

Raji seems to be the perfect fit as a Nose in a 3-4. He also could play the nose tackle spot in the 4-3 which is currently occupied by Gerrard Warren and Turd Sands. Kelly plays the 3-technique spot.

Facts:- The Raiders are paying a load for those three DTs.- Tom Cable said Warren was one of the leaders of the team.- Warren was a Top 5 pick.- The Raiders don’t traditionally believe they need to draft defensive tackles high.- The Raiders best WR last year was JLH, who had 22 receptions.- Javon Walker has the rest of his contract guaranteed at a much lower rate.- The mood of the team still seems to be wanting playmakers and protection for Russell.

BJ Raji, seemingly would address an area of great need, but he also doesn’t make a ton of sense monetarily or within the normal Raider draft framework. The question was "Who would you darft…" but I am coming at this from the team perspective. I dislike Raji, and I don’t think the team will draft Raji based on these facts.

Crabtree has been labeled a Diva, and from what I have seen, he might be one. It almost goes without saying that great WRs are divas, so this doesn’t preclude him from being our draft selection. Also, Davis never cares much about divas. One thing is for sure, Cable wants this team to start playing for each other instead of themselves. Crabtree scores touchdowns and helps his team, that will be all that matters. I personally don’t love Crabtree either, although it is hard to argue that we don’t need a WR. Still, the Crabtree selection makes much more sense than Raji.

I will now attempt to persuade people to vote like I want you to and therefore taint my poll. Let’s be real, we don’t like to change our minds, but I ask you to keep an open mind. If not, I guess my poll is safe.

We have been consistently poor at stopping the run. The DTs changed, the DEs changed, the LBs changed and still we do a poor job. The one consistent thing, a poor SAM LB. If Curry is available, it would make sense to grab him.

The interesting thing is how the Mark Sanchez/Matthew Stafford situation is going to pan out. If Stafford doesn’t go #1, he could fall. Sanchez if he falls past Seattle, there are plenty of teams wanting to trade up to Jacksonville at #8.

If you are a team wanting a QB and one of them is available and four other teams are trying to trade up to #8 to get such a QB, what would you do? You would see if the #7 team might want to swing a deal to move down as you leapfrog your competitors.

This makes sense. What also makes sense is the fact we would love to move up from the second round or down in the first to select Alex Mack, while acquiring players / more picks.

Maclin/Mack or Heyward-Bey/Mack are possible scenarios if we traded down. The possibility for trading down is opening up. I think Tom Cable is right, normally it isn’t something we do, but we have to be open to it this year.

I contradict my thoughts that it wont happen, but if someone is willing to give up a load for the pick, Al Davis isn’t stupid.